California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking (CalPEST) (Formerly Known as PRDMS) - IT Project Tracking - California Department of Technology - California Department of Technology

Independent Project Oversight Report (IPOR) Rating

Green
- Satisfactory, no corrective action necessary.
Yellow
- Caution, risks/issues exist. There may be a need for corrective action in the near future.
Red
- Escalated for immediate corrective action. There is a significant risk to the health of the project.
Blue
- Not enough data is available to make a determination about the project health.
No Report Available - Indicates that a Report is not available for publishing for the reporting period.

3930-012 California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking (CalPEST) (Formerly Known as PRDMS)

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation proposes to develop a fully integrated system to encompass the pesticide product registration process and offer online functions to external stakeholders. The system will decrease the time needed to accept, review, and process product registration materials and provide online functions for stakeholder submission of related materials and payments.

Project Details

Agency / State Entity	Environmental Protection / Pesticide Regulation, Department of
Total Cost	$26,413,043
Last Approved Start Date	01/10/2015
Last Approved Finish Date	06/30/2024
Criticality Rating	High

IPOR Reporting Period	Overall IPOR Rating
01/01/2025 - 01/31/2025	Yellow

Independent Project Oversight Dashboard

Key Questions

Is the project on track to satisfy the customer's business objectives?Yes

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives in the approved timeframe?Yes

Is the project on track to achieve the objectives within the approved budget?Yes

Project Overall Health	Comments
Yellow	During this reporting period, the California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking (CalPEST) Project continued to meet its internal milestones and remained in Yellow (Cautionary) status due to the following factors: • The project remains aligned with its baselines as outlined in the latest approved Special Project Report 4 (SPR 4) while actively engaging in sprint velocity discussions to assess potential project impacts, ensuring continued progress and successful delivery. • The focus areas of resources, scope, time, and quality remain in Yellow status due to uncertainties related to upcoming sprint activities, pending schedule adjustments, and unresolved system security documentation. • No concerns have been identified regarding ongoing efforts. Interim Implementation 1.5 Stabilization and Sprint 28 were completed as planned. Sprint 29 is currently in progress and remains on track, while Sprint 30 is scheduled to begin next in February and is also on track. • The second deployment, marking Full System Acceptance, remains on track for August 2025, reflecting a two- to three-month delay, which is unlikely to trigger an SPR.

Project Overall Health

Comments

Yellow

During this reporting period, the California Pesticide Electronic Submission Tracking (CalPEST) Project continued to meet its internal milestones and remained in Yellow (Cautionary) status due to the following factors: • The project remains aligned with its baselines as outlined in the latest approved Special Project Report 4 (SPR 4) while actively engaging in sprint velocity discussions to assess potential project impacts, ensuring continued progress and successful delivery. • The focus areas of resources, scope, time, and quality remain in Yellow status due to uncertainties related to upcoming sprint activities, pending schedule adjustments, and unresolved system security documentation. • No concerns have been identified regarding ongoing efforts. Interim Implementation 1.5 Stabilization and Sprint 28 were completed as planned. Sprint 29 is currently in progress and remains on track, while Sprint 30 is scheduled to begin next in February and is also on track. • The second deployment, marking Full System Acceptance, remains on track for August 2025, reflecting a two- to three-month delay, which is unlikely to trigger an SPR.

Focus Area/Rating	Comments
Governance Green	The CalPEST Project Governance remains in Green (satisfactory) status. • The Project Steering Committee (PSC) Meeting was successfully held as planned on January 15, 2025, during which the project decision-making body was updated on current progress, with a specific focus on additional sprints that could potentially impact the project schedule. • Additionally, discussions included aspects of project security framework, focusing on the System Security Plan (SSP) and the NIST Control Sheet, emphasizing their role in ensuring compliance and system security. • The next PSC meeting is scheduled for February 19, 2025.
Time Management Yellow	This focus area remains in Yellow (cautionary) status due to uncertainties related to upcoming sprint activities, pending potential schedule adjustments, and unresolved system security documentation and NIST framework guidelines. During this reporting period, the oversight team noted no concerns regarding ongoing efforts: (1) Interim Implementation 1.5 Stabilization was completed on January 3, 2025, as planned, Sprint 28 started on January 6, 2025, and was completed on January 27, 2025. (2) Sprint 29 began on January 28, 2025, and is currently in progress, with an anticipated completion date of February 18, 2025. (3) Sprint 30 is scheduled to begin on February 19, 2025, and remains on track. (4) The Technical User Guide, System Security Plan, and Knowledge Transfer Plan Assessment are ongoing and will be updated as needed. (5) The second deployment, marking Full System Acceptance (FSA), remains on track for August 2025, reflecting a two-month extension. However, ongoing sprint velocity discussions could lead to additional sprints, potentially extending the timeline by one more month. The oversight team noted that this extension is unlikely to exceed the 10% threshold, meaning it would not trigger an SPR. Additionally, the project has indicated that no additional funding request is anticipated, as prior months' savings are expected to offset any financial impact.
Cost Management Green	The Cost Management focus area remains in Green (Satisfactory) status. • The IPO Manager has no concerns with project expenditure costs to date as reported in the project status report for January 2025 Project Status Report (PSR).
Scope Management Yellow	This focus area remains in Yellow (Cautionary) status as there have been no significant adjustments to the project scope as approved in SPR #4. • However, the oversight team reiterated its agreement with the IV&V report’s concerns regarding the potential impact on scope due to additional sprints and user stories. • The CDT Oversight Team continues to actively track and monitor the following three (3) open IV&V Findings: - IV&V Finding #36: Gaps in security measures could lead to inappropriate user access, breaches of customer confidentiality, and loss of public trust. - IV&V Finding #37: The MERP development team has not adhered to DPR-approved coding standards or widely accepted industry practices during the CalPEST development. - IV&V Finding #38: The project faces ongoing challenges related to a high volume of defects, particularly those with Critical or High priority in the area of security.
Resources Yellow	While project resources remain aligned with the latest project approval document (SPR #4), this focus area remains in Yellow status due to pending potential schedule adjustments that may impact available resources.
Quality Yellow	This focus area remains in Yellow (Cautionary) status as the project oversight team continues to await the completion of the SSP. • Initially scheduled for October 15, 2024, the deadline was first moved to January 15, 2025, and has now been rescheduled to May 15, 2025. • The Oversight Team reiterates that the SSP and NIST Control Sheet are critical components of the comprehensive security framework, and delaying their resolution until the end of the project could jeopardize security compliance. • Aside from security concerns, the Oversight Manager reviewed the January 2025 post-implementation report and found no issues with the ongoing stabilization efforts, which have demonstrated significant improvement since the deployment date. • The Oversight Manager will continue to leverage the IV&V staff's work to validate the technical quality of the SI vendor’s deliverables against IEEE standards and address any concerns with the Project Team.
Risk And Issues Green	This focus area remains in Green (Satisfactory) status as the project team continues to capture and track project risks and issues proactively and effectively. • While the project is addressing minor post-go-live and production incidents, the oversight team continues to actively track and monitor the following two high-priority issues and three high-critical risks that remain open: -- Issue-18: Testing, multiple critical and high-severity defects related to system security have been identified. -- Issue-19: Approximately 50% of the defects identified during testing are of critical and high severity, with some being reopened or recurring in different areas. -- Risk-05: Regarding design and implementation that may fail to meet requirements and business needs. -- Risk-60: Regarding uncertainty in the deployment's level effort for features such as metrics gathering, public search functionality, payments, renewals, and other technical complexities. -- Risk-61: The level of effort for the features needed to fully complete the system business requirements and business rules may take more effort than anticipated and allocated. Opened in January 2025. • The oversight team noted the project's efforts in strategizing and reviewing mitigation plans as part of the ongoing Risks and Issues Management plan and meetings.
Transition Readiness Green	This focus area remains in Green (Satisfactory) status. • During this reporting period, the Oversight Manager noted no concerns in transition and readiness efforts underway. • CDT oversight also noted that the repeated delays of the Technical User Guide and Knowledge Transfer Plans remain unclear. Initially expected on October 15, 2024, these deliverables have now been postponed by five months to April 2025 after several rescheduling. • The Oversight Manager looks forward to observing the next steps in the knowledge transfer process during upcoming implementations.
Conditions For Approval Green	There are currently no conditions of approval.
Corrective Action Green	There are currently no corrective action plans.

Project Approval Documents

; Website Accessibility Certification

2025-02-07 - Release-11